Enough! Already! Seriously!

After we got home from dinner last night, Tom decided to do one last run with the snow blower. The snow had finally stopped, and he wanted to clear the drive before the temperature dropped and the snow became a crusted sheet of ice by morning, much harder to handle.

So the snow blower -- poor thing, it has done about three seasons of work in the past month -- just decided to give up the ghost. I helped shove snow off to the side of the drive for a while, and then Tom decided to try to buy another snow blower. We went over to Home Depot to see if they had any left, but no such luck. By then it was too late to shop anywhere else. We came back and Tom finished off the bit that was left. I looked at the weather report and it looked like we might get through the coming week with only a few snow showers, and then by next weekend it will be up above freezing and some of it will melt.

This morning, the weather report had become a bit less friendly:

Winter Storm Watch

/O.NEW.KMKX.WS.A.0005.080217T1200Z- 080218T0600Z/ MARQUETTE-GREEN LAKE- FOND DU LAC-SHEBOYGAN-SAUK-COLUMBIA- DODGE- WASHINGTON-OZAUKEE-IOWA-DANE- JEFFERSON-WAUKESHA-MILWAUKEE- LAFAYETTE-GREEN-ROCK-WALWORTH-RACINE- KENOSHA- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF... MONTELLO...BERLIN...FOND DU LAC... SHEBOYGAN...BARABOO...PORTAGE... WISCONSIN DELLS...BEAVER DAM... WEST BEND...PORT WASHINGTON...DODGEVILLE... MADISON...JEFFERSON... LAKE MILLS... WAUKESHA...BROOKFIELD...MILWAUKEE... DARLINGTON... MONROE...JANESVILLE... BELOIT...ELKHORN...LAKE GENEVA... RACINE... KENOSHA 429 AM CST FRI FEB 15 2008

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY MORNING THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY MORNING THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING.

SNOW AMOUNTS GENERALLY IN THE 6 TO 13 INCH RANGE ARE POSSIBLE SUNDAY INTO SUNDAY EVENING...WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS OVER SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN. SLIGHTLY LOWER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE TO THE NORTHWEST. IN ADDITION...STRONG WINDS WITH THE LOW MAY CAUSE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. THOSE WITH TRAVEL PLANS SUNDAY AND SUNDAY EVENING SHOULD KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST FORECASTS.

A WINTER STORM WATCH IS ISSUED WHEN HEAVY SNOW...AND/OR SLEET...AND/OR FREEZING RAIN MAY COMBINE WITH STRONG WINDS TO CAUSE MAJOR IMPACTS TO COMMERCE AND SOCIETY. CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS FOR UPDATES AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

It has reached the point that I am happy to see that we are likely to get only six (6) inches, not being in the southeast (Like Holy Hill!) where thirteen (13) is possible.

When he saw that, Tom got on the phone and located a heavier-duty snow blower over in Reedsburg, and we are about to head over to pick it up.